Minnesota Football: Four Gophers Invited to NFL Combine

The NFL announced Wednesday afternoon that four former Minnesota Gophers football players have been invited to the NFL Combine which will be held in Indianapolis from February 27th through March 6th. Getting the invites were center John-Michael Schmitz, running back Mohamed Ibrahim, cornerback Terrell Smith, and safety Jordan Howden.

All four Gophers have already shown out for NFL scouts at at least one postseason event. Schmitz was invited to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama where he impressed greatly and rose his draft stock. He made an argument to be the first center off the board in the 2023 NFL draft and depending on how the draft goes could even potentially sneak in as a first round selection.

Ibrahim, Smith and Howden were all invited to the East-West Shrine Bowl in Las Vegas. All three practiced all week long, but Ibrahim did not participate in the game itself instead traveling back down to Florida to work with his trainers for the Combine. Smith started at corner back for the West roster but did not record a stat. Howden same on as a reserve and made one tackle on defense, and a second on special teams.

At the combine defensive backs will report on either February 27th or 28th. They will have individual team interviews and a medical exam for the first few days before being officially measured and performing their on-field workout on March 3rd. They will perform the bench press test on March 4th.

Offensive linemen and running backs are the final two groups to go at the combine. They do not need to report until March 1st and will undergo medical evaluations and have team interviews for the first few days. Their on-field workouts and measurements will be Sunday March 5th, with the bench press occurring on March 6th.

If the Gophers at the combine don’t perform in the usual workouts they may do them at the Minnesota Prop Day which is slated for mid-march at the Indoor Football Complex. There they will be joined with other potential Gopher pro hopefuls like Tanner Morgan, Mariano Sori-Marin, Thomas Rush and others along with small collège players from around the region in working out for NFL scouts.

We will have a full recap of the Combine later in March. Good luck to the former Gophers as they try and make an impact.